Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1887-07-01
A PERJURED FIREPLACE.

The sound of the wind, bowling dis
mally without, came from the open fire
place of the parlor of a coZy suburban cot
tage, one evening recently. The proprie-
tor of the cottage, with his wife and an
elderly guest, had been sitting near the
fireplace for some moments, listening to
the wailings of such portions of the blast
as had been caught in the chimney.
''The fireplace is trying to tell us scme-
thing" remarked the wife, who was of
poetic turn of mind.
s'Nonsense!'' exclaimed her husband;
s'freplaces never say anything, at least
not to sensible persons.
"And yet" said the guest, "a tell tale
fireplace once told me that a murder had
been committed, and pointed out man
which it accused of having committed the
murder"
The host expressed himself as quite
ready to be convinced that freplaces did
talk, and urged his guest to relate the
murder story which had come from the
mouth of a fireplace.
"When / was a young man. said the
guest, II occupied at one time a furnished
room in large, old fashioned house near
East Broadway. Ny room was thu third
floor, back The most striking feature
about it was an old fashioned fireplace of
ample dimensions. Bymeans of this fire.
place I could frequently hear what was
said in the rooms both above and below
mine; but it was very difficult for me to
distinguish whether a sound which heard
in the fireplace came from the room above
or the one below mine. When [ first took
the room quarrelsome couple had the
room below, while the one above was oc-
cupied by very jolly couple. Sometimes
would sit in front of my fireplace and
listen to the quarreling from below and
the laughter from above, which would be-
come strangely mixed. Many of the col
loquies formed by the mingling of the
remarks which came through my fireplace
from the rooms above and below mine
were very amusing.
cone day learned that the quarrelsome
couple had moved to some other portion
of the town. A few days afterward their
room was taken by tai, dark, French
looking man named Leclair and his wife,
a delicate woman, who appeared to be fad
ing. During the following week the jolly
couple went away, and their room was
taken by handsome woman who wore
black. There was something sad about
her face, which suggested that she had
history. All that could learn from my
landlady, woman who attended strictly
to her own business, was that the ledger
above me was a Mrs Winter.
zone evening as T was going up to my
room, saw Leclair standing in the hall
outside his door and talking very earnestly
to Mrs. Winter, who seemed to be re-
garding him with look of strong sympa-
thy. During the next few weeks | saw
Leclair and Mrs. Winter together in the
hall several times He was very earnest
each time. while she was evidently SYM
pathetic. One evening as l passed LIE
clair's door it suddenly opened and saw
Mrs. Leclair looking out with a strange
expression on her countenance. When she
saw me she looked frightened and hur
riedly closed the door. I had begun to
suspect that Leclair' and Mrs. Winter
were lovers. Perhaps Mrs. Leclair had
the same suspicion and had opened the
door in the expectation Of finding Mrs.
Winter and her husband together. The
more thought of the matter the more 1
became convinced that there was some
mystery connected with my fellow lodg-
ers.
zone Saturday evening when I retired
found it impossible to sleep After toss
ing about for several hours got up and
sat in my easy chair, which happened to
be Just in front OF the fireplace. My
thoughts ran on the Leclairs and Mrs.
Winter I heard the clock in distant
church tower strike three, and then 1 fell
into doze. It seemed to me that I was
sitting in large room. Before me stood
Leclair and Mrs. Winter. Her lips
moved and seemed to be reproducing him,
but heard nothing. He looked angrily
at her, and she tried to put her arms
around his neck but he pushed her
roughly away. She sank on her knees
and seized his left hand. He gave her a
wicked sidelong glance and then with his
right hand he drew from his hip pocket a
pistol. Not word had been spoken.
Everything had been done in pantomime.
Suddenly a curtain seemed to descend
just in front of me and shut out my view
of the pair. But from behind the curtain
now came the sound of struggling, and
then heard a woman's voice cry out:
"'Oh, Charlie, what have I done that
you should wish to take my lifer
"Then the sound of more struggling
came from behind the curtain and the wo-
mans voice cried:
"tOh, spare me, Charlie, spare mel"
'sThen heartl the report of a pistol. I
suddenly came to myself and at the same
instant the ceiling overhead shook and I
heard something heavy fall upon the floor
above.
81 sprang up, but for the moment was
in a daZed condition, from which I was
aroused by the sound of footsteps, which
seemed to come up the stairs from the
floor below and then to ascend to the floor
above. 1T is the fourth floor front lodger
returning late,' I thought; she steps
quietly as becomes a late comer.' That
had been dreaming I felt certain; but still
it seemed more than possible that the cries
and the pistol shot at the end of my dream
had been real, and I certainly had heard
something which might have been a dead
body fall on the floor above. Could it he
that Mrs. Winter had been murdered by
Leclair? placed my ear at the fireplace
and listened. 1 heard sounds as if the
knob of door was being turned, and then
everything was silent. I moved towards
my door, and as I did so heard footsteps
quietly descending the stairs from the
floor above The footsteps passed my
door, and 1 then heard them descending
the stairs to the floor below. I opened my
door and, stepping softly on the landing,
I listened. heard the door of Leclair's
room open and then shut now had no
doubt that it was Leclair and that he had
murdered Mrs Winter, either in fit of
jealousy or because be found her in his
way. He looked just the sort of man to
commit murder, I thought. | was about
to arouse the house and denounce Leclair,
when it flashed across my mind that, after